Demographics of Melbourne

Melbourne's Chinatown, established in 1854, is the oldest in Australia and one of the oldest in the world

The first European settlers in Melbourne were British and Irish. These two groups accounted for nearly all arrivals before the gold rush, and supplied most immigrants to the city until the Second World War.

Melbourne was transformed by the 1850s gold rush; within months of the discovery of gold in August 1852, the city's population had increased by nearly three-quarters, from 25,000 to 40,000 inhabitants.[34] Thereafter, growth was exponential and by 1865, Melbourne had overtaken Sydney as Australia's most populous city.[35]

Many Chinese, German and American nationals were to be found on the goldfields and subsequently in Melbourne. The various nationalities involved in the Eureka Stockade revolt nearby give some indication of the migration flows in the second half of the nineteenth century.[36]

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Melbourne experienced unprecedented inflows from Mediterranean Europe and the Balkans, primarily Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, and West Asia, mostly from Lebanon, Cyprus, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Since the end of the White Australia policy in 1973 during the Vietnam War, the city has received a larger wave of primarily Asian immigration and refugees, with Vietnam, China, India the largest sources of immigrants in the 21st century.

At the 2021 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were:[N 2][42]

0.5% of the population, or 24,062 people, identified as Indigenous Australians (Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders) in 2016.[N 4][44]

Melbourne has the 10th largest immigrant population among world metropolitan areas. In Melbourne at the 2021 census, the other most common countries of birth were India (5.1%), Mainland China (3.6%), England (2.7%), Vietnam (2.0%) and New Zealand (1.7%).[45]

As of the 2021 census, 59.6% of Melburnians speak only English at home.[45] Mandarin (4.6%), Vietnamese (2.5%), Greek (2.2%), Punjabi (2.0%), and Arabic (1.9%) are the most common foreign languages spoken at home by residents of Melbourne.[45]

An Indian restaurant in West Melbourne.

Most foreign ethnic groups are associated with the suburbs they are most concentrated in:

• Italians with Avondale Heights, Reservoir, Fawkner, Thomastown, Keilor Park, Greenvale, Pascoe Vale, Bulleen, Mill Park, Keilor East and throughout much of the North and North-Western suburbs
• Greeks with Oakleigh, Oakleigh South, Bentleigh East, Hughesdale, Doncaster, Preston, Thornbury, Pascoe Vale South, Burwood East, Templestowe and interspersed throughout the North, North-Eastern and South-Eastern suburbs.
• Turkish with Broadmeadows, Dallas, Roxburgh Park, Craigieburn, Meadow Heights, Greenvale and Coolaroo
• Lebanese with Broadmeadows, Roxburgh Park, Altona North, Coolaroo, Glenroy, Coburg, Campbellfield and Fawkner
• Egyptians with Hillside, Taylors Lakes and Taylors Hill
• Afghans with Dandenong, Hallam, Doveton, Narre Warren South and Hampton Park
• Iranians with Doncaster, Doncaster East and Templestowe
• Assyrians and Iraqis with Broadmeadows, Roxburgh Park, Greenvale, Craigieburn and Coolaroo[46]
• Vietnamese with St Albans, Springvale, Footscray, Sunshine North, Deer Park, Delahey, Braybrook, Cairnlea, Sunshine, Sunshine West, Noble Park and Richmond.
• Sri Lankans with Dandenong, Endeavour Hills, Noble Park, Hampton Park, Narre Warren, Mount Waverley, Glen Waverley, Clyde North and Craigieburn
• Chileans and Salvadorans with Caroline Springs, Hillside, Burnside Heights, Sunshine West and St Albans
• Colombians with CBD and Southbank
• Somalis with Heidelberg West, Broadmeadows, Carlton and Flemington
• Ethiopians with Tarneit, Truganina, Derrimut, Flemington and throughout the Western Suburbs.
• Eritreans with Braybrook, Flemington, Carlton and Roxburgh Park.
• Sudanese with St Albans, Sunshine, Wyndham Vale, Tarneit, Truganina, Noble Park, Dandenong, Melton, Pakenham and Doveton
• Croatian with St Albans and Taylors Lakes
• Serbians with Keysborough, Noble Park, Dandenong, Endeavour Hills and St Albans
• Indians with Tarneit, Truganina, Noble Park, Epping, Cranbourne West, Glen Waverley, Laverton, Sydenham, Springvale, Hampton Park, Clayton South, Lynbrook, Lyndhurst, Point Cook, Carnegie, Glenhuntly, Clayton, Dandenong, Craigieburn and St Albans
• Pakistani with Fawkner, Glenroy, Broadmeadows, Tarneit and Dallas
• Albanians with Dandenong
• Maltese with Hillside, St Albans, Caroline Springs, Taylors Lakes and throughout the western suburbs.
• Chinese including Chinese Malaysians, Hongkongers, Taiwanese with CBD, Templestowe, Doncaster East, Doncaster, Clayton, Carlton, Mount Waverley, Glen Waverley, Wantirna South, Springvale, Vermont South, Forest Hill, Bundoora, Point Cook, Box Hill and throughout the Eastern suburbs
• Jewish with Caulfield North, Elsternwick, Caulfield, St Kilda East, Balaclava
• Russian with Carnegie, Bentleigh East, Caulfield, Caulfield North, Bentleigh, McKinnon and Moorabbin
• Samoans with Tarneit, Hampton Park, Cranbourne, Craigieburn, Melton, Broadmeadows and St Albans
• Māori with Tarneit, Truganina, Point Cook, Cranbourne, Hampton Park and Carrum Downs
• Filipino with Caroline Springs, Hampton Park, Derrimut, Burnside and Tarneit
• Koreans with CBD, Box Hill, Glen Waverley, Clayton, Oakleigh, Point Cook, Docklands and Southbank
• Cambodian with Springvale, Springvale South, Noble Park, Keysborough and Clayton South
• Nepalese with Glenroy, Broadmeadows and Sunshine.
• Burmese with Sunshine, Laverton, Hoppers Crossing, Werribee, Springvale and Ringwood
• Polish with Bentleigh, Caulfield, Keysborough, Carnegie and Albion
• Timorese with Delahey and Taylors Hill
• Fijian with Berwick, Cranbourne and Hampton Park
• Macedonian with Thomastown, Lalor, Kings Park, Epping, Mill Park, Taylors Hill, Keilor Downs and Taylors Lakes
• Bosnian with Cairnlea, Noble Park and St Albans

The cities of Whittlesea, Wyndham, Hume, Brimbank and Dandenong on Melbourne's fringe are particular current migrant hotspots.[47]

As a result of large migrant populations, Melbourne has a proliferation of areas where restaurants, cafes and services of similar international demographic establish, particularly Chinese, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian cuisines. Some of these areas include:

• Lonsdale Street, Top End, Melbourne CBD – Greek cuisine
• Lygon Street, Southern End, Carlton – Italian cuisine (Little Italy)
• Sydney Road, Coburg/Brunswick – Lebanese and Turkish (Little Lebanon)
• Johnston Street, western end, Fitzroy – Spanish/Latin-American
• Caulfield & North Caulfield – Kosher Jewish cuisine
• Oakleigh – Greek cuisine
• Little Bourke Street, eastern end, Melbourne city – Chinese and East Asian cuisine (Chinatown)
• Central Box Hill – Chinese and East Asian cuisine
• Koornang Road, Carnegie – Korean cuisine
• Central Footscray – Vietnamese, Sudanese and Chinese
• Robinson, Walker and Foster streets, Dandenong – Indian (Little India)
• Thomas Street, Dandenong – Afghan (Afghan Bazaar)
• Central Springvale – Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Cambodian
• Glen Waverley/Doncaster – Chinese, Malaysian and Sri Lankan cuisines
• Victoria Street, Abbotsford/Richmond – Chinese, Vietnamese (Little Saigon)
• Areas notable for large variety of mixed cuisine – Dandenong, St Kilda, Ormond, Brunswick, Melbourne CBD

In 1848, the first large group of Buddhists to come to Australia came as part of gold rush. The great majority stayed briefly for prospecting purposes rather than as permanent settlers. In 1856, a temple was established in South Melbourne by the Sze Yap group. The first specific Australian Buddhist group, the Buddhist Study Group Melbourne, was formed in Melbourne in 1938 but ended a short time later during the Second World War.[49]

The largest religious group is Christianity. 64% of people from Melbourne consider themselves Christians but this is subdivided into a number of denominations of which over half are members of the Roman Catholic Church, followed by the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox and the Uniting churches. The city has two large cathedrals, St Patrick's (Roman Catholic),[50] and St Paul's (Anglican).[51] Both were built in the Victorian era and are of considerable heritage significance as major landmarks of the city.[52]

The majority of Australian Hindus live along the Eastern Coast of Australia and are mainly located in Melbourne and Sydney. They have established a number of temples and other spiritual meeting places and celebrate most Hindu festivals.[53]

There are approximately 500,000 Muslims living in Australia with over 100,000 settled in Melbourne. They are noted for their diversity with heritages from more than 60 countries.[54] [55] The first Muslims to settle permanently in Australia were the cameleers, mainly from Afghanistan from as early as the 1860s.

The heritage-listed East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation in East Melbourne.

Four out of ten Australian Jews call Melbourne home. The city is also residence to the largest number of Holocaust survivors of any Australian city,[56] indeed the highest per capita concentration outside Israel itself.[57] To service the needs of the vibrant Jewish community, Melbourne's Jewry have established multiple synagogues, which today number over 30,[58] along with a local Jewish newspaper.[59] Melbourne's largest university–Monash University is named after prominent Jewish general and statesman, John Monash.[60]

Sikhism is a small but growing minority religion in Australia, that can trace its origins in the nation to the 1830s. The Sikhs form one of the largest subgroups of Indian Australians with 125,000 adherents according to the 2016 census, having grown from 17,000 in 2001 and 12,000 in 1996[1] [2]. Most adherents can trace their ancestry back to the Punjab region of India. Whereas, as per anecdotal evidence collected by Sikh Council of Australia Inc., there are approximately 100,000 Sikhs in Australia and the number of Punjabi speakers is even higher. They are often mistaken for who they are not, due to Sikh men required to wear a "Turban" as one of the 5 articles of faith. The largest Sikh community's are situated on the Eastern Sea Board, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, followed by Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Cairns, Townsville. Sikh's also make up a significant population in the town of Woolgoolga near Coffs Harbour, NSW where they own Banana Plantations. There is also a significant Sikh population in Griffith NSW, Renmark SA, associated with Farming. Kahlon Estate's in Renmark which produce Australia's Premium Wines are owned by Sikh emigrants

Melbourne, like the rest of Australia, is partially irreligious, with the proportion of people identifying themselves as Christian declining from 96% in 1901 to 64% in 2006 and those who did not state their religion or declared no religion rising from 2% to over 30% over the same period.[61]